The determinant of a 3 x 3 matrix (General & Shortcut Method)

The determinant of a 3 x 3 matrix (General & Shortcut Method)

In this section, we will learn the two different methods in finding the determinant of a 3 x 3 matrix. Instead of memorizing the formula directly, we can use these two methods to compute the determinant. The first method is the general method. This method requires you to look at the first three entries of the matrix. For each entry, you want to multiply that entry by the determinant of a 2 x 2 matrix that is not in that entry's row or column. Note that you have to put a negative sign on the second entry. Then you add everything up, and that will be the determinant of the 3 x 3 matrix. The second method is a shortcut. Watch the video to have a clear explanation of how it works.

Lessons

Let the matrix , where a,b,c,d,e,f,g,a, b, c, d, e, f, g,a,b,c,d,e,f,g, and iii are all numbers.
We denote the determinant of XXX to be det(X) (X)(X). To find the determinant of a 3 x 3 matrix, we compute the following: